Systems and methods for note recognition

ABSTRACT

At least some aspects of the present disclosure feature systems and methods for note recognition. The note recognition system includes a sensor, a note recognition module, and a note extraction module. The sensor is configured to capture a visual representation of a scene having one or more notes. The note recognition module is coupled to the sensor. The note recognition module is configured to receive the captured visual representation and determine a general boundary of a note from the captured visual representation. The note extraction module is configured to extract content of the note from the captured visual representation based on the determined general boundary of the note.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to note capturing, recognition,extraction, and/or management tools and systems.

BACKGROUND

Notes have been broadly used in recording, sharing, and communicatingideas and information. For example, during a collaboration session(e.g., brainstorming session), participants write down ideas on Post-It®notes, whiteboard, or paper, and then share with one another. Inaddition, people commonly use notes throughout the day to memorializeinformation or content which the individual does not want to forget. Asadditional examples, people frequently use notes as reminders of actionsor events to take in the future, such as to make a telephone call,revise a document or to fill out a time sheet.

On many situations, people would traditionally write down theappropriate information on paper-based notes, such as Post-It® notes.Paper Post-It® notes are simply removed from a dispenser pad ofsticky-back paper Post-It® notes, and are applied to various surfacessuch as documents, the tops of desks, telephones, or the like.Information can be written on paper Post-It® notes either before orafter the paper Post-It® notes are detached from their dispenser pad orattached to their target surfaces. Paper Post-It® notes can be easilymoved from one surface to another, such as between documents or betweendocuments and the tops of desks, they can overlap edges or boundaries ofdocuments, they can be layered, and they can be moved with the objectsto which they are attached.

SUMMARY

At least some aspects of the present disclosure feature a method ofcollecting content of notes, comprising the steps of: capturing, by asensor, a visual representation of a scene having a plurality of notes;recognizing, by a processing unit, one of the plurality of notes fromthe visual representation; and extracting, by the processing unit,content of the one of the plurality of notes.

At least some aspects of the present disclosure feature a noterecognition system including a sensor, a note recognition module, and anote extraction module. The sensor is configured to capture a visualrepresentation of a scene having a plurality of notes. The noterecognition module is coupled to the sensor. The note recognition moduleis configured to receive the captured visual representation anddetermine a general boundary of one of the plurality of notes from thecaptured visual representation. The note extraction module is configuredto extract content of the one of the plurality of notes from thecaptured visual representation based on the determined general boundaryof the one of the plurality of notes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are incorporated in and constitute a part ofthis specification and, together with the description, explain theadvantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1A is a representation illustrating one example of a user capturingan image of a workspace with notes using an image capture device on amobile device;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating one example of a mobile device;

FIG. 1C illustrates an embodiment of a note recognition system;

FIG. 1D illustrates an embodiment of a note management system;

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate some examples of notes having marks;

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a noterecognition and/or management system;

FIG. 3B illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of extractingcontent of notes;

FIG. 3C illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of authenticating anote;

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate an example of content extraction process of anote with a mark;

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate an embodiment of content extraction of aplurality of notes with retroreflective marks;

FIG. 6 illustrates a module diagram of an embodiment of a noterecognition system;

FIG. 7A illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a note managementsystem;

FIG. 7B illustrates examples of how a system may label a note; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a module diagram of an embodiment of a notemanagement system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Notes have been broadly used in recording, sharing, and communicatingideas and information. For example, during a collaboration session(e.g., brainstorming session), participants write down ideas on Post-It®notes, whiteboard, paper, and then share with one another. At least someaspects of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods ofcapturing multiple notes and extracting content of notes. In someembodiments, at least some of the notes include a mark to facilitate therecognition and extraction of the notes. In some cases, the notes arecaptured and identified/recognized in one visual representation of ascene. A visual representation of a scene, for example, can be a digitalphotograph of note(s) and the surrounding environment. Further, at leastsome aspects of the present disclosure are directed to systems andmethods of managing multiple notes, such as storing and retrieving thenotes, categorizing and grouping the notes, or the like. In some cases,the note management system can improve the efficiency in capturing andextracting note content from a large number of notes. In addition, thenote management system can improve the efficiency in grouping andmanaging notes.

Notes can include physical notes and digital notes. Physical notesgenerally refer to objects with a general boundary and recognizablecontent. Physical notes can include the resulting objects after peoplewrite, draw, or enter via other type of inputs on the objects, forexample, paper, white board, or other objects accepting the inputs. Byway of examples, physical notes can include hand-written Post-It® notes,paper, or film, white-board with drawings, posters, and signs. In somecases, one object can include several notes. For example, several ideascan be written on a piece of poster paper or a white-board. In someimplementations, to facilitate the recognition of these notes, marks,such as lines, markers, stickers, can be applied to the edges of thenotes. Physical notes can be two-dimensional or three dimensional.Physical notes can have various shapes and sizes. For example, aphysical note may be a 3 inches×3 inches note; a physical note may be a26 inches×39 inches poster; and a physical note may be a triangle metalsign. In some cases, physical notes have known shapes and/or sizes.Digital notes generally refer to digital objects with information and/orideas. Digital notes can be generated using digital inputs. Digitalinputs can include, for example, keyboards, touch screens, digitalcameras, digital recording devices, stylus, digital pens, or the like.

In some cases, notes are used in a collaboration space. Collaborationspace generally refers to a gathering area allowing more than one personto share ideas and thoughts with each other. The collaboration space caninclude virtual space allowing a group of persons to share ideas andthoughts remotely, besides the gathering area.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a note recognition environment 10. Inthe example of FIG. 1A, environment 10 includes a mobile device 15 tocapture and recognize one of more notes 22 from a workspace 20. Asdescribed herein, mobile device provides an execution environment forone or more software applications that, as described, can efficientlycapture and extract note content from a large number of physical notes,such as the collection of notes 22 from workspace 20. In this example,notes 22 may be the results of a collaborative brainstorming sessionhaving multiple participants. As described, mobile device 15 and thesoftware executing thereon may perform a variety of note-relatedoperations, including automated creation of digital notes representativeof physical notes 22 of workspace 20.

In the example implementation, mobile device 15 includes, among othercomponents, an image capture device 18 and a presentation device 28. Inaddition, although not shown in FIG. 1A, mobile device 15 may includeone or more processors, microprocessors, internal memory and/or datastorage and other electronic circuitry for executing software orfirmware to provide the functionality described herein.

In general, image capture device 18 is a camera or other componentconfigured to capture image data representative of workspace 20 andnotes 22 positioned therein. In other words, the image data captures avisual representation of an environment, such as workspace 20, having aplurality of visual notes. Although discussed as a camera of mobiledevice 15, image capture device 18 may comprise other components capableof capturing image data, such as a video recorder, an infrared camera, aCCD (Charge Coupled Device) array, a laser scanner, or the like.Moreover, the captured image data can include at least one of an image,a video, a sequence of images (i.e., multiple images taken within a timeperiod and/or with an order), a collection of images, or the like, andthe term input image is used herein to refer to the various exampletypes of image data.

Presentation device 28 may include, but not limited to, anelectronically addressable display, such as a liquid crystal display(LCD) or other type of display device for use with mobile device 28. Insome implementations, mobile device 15 generates the content to displayon presentation device 28 for the notes in a variety of formats, forexample, a list, grouped in rows and/or column, a flow diagram, or thelike. Mobile device 15 may, in some cases, communicate displayinformation for presentation by other devices, such as a tabletcomputer, a projector, an electronic billboard or other external device.

As described herein, mobile device 15, and the software executingthereon, provide a platform for creating and manipulating digital notesrepresentative of physical notes 22. For example, in general, mobiledevice 15 is configured to process image data produced by image capturedevice 18 to detect and recognize at least one of physical notes 22positioned within workspace 20. In some examples, the mobile device 15is configured to recognize note(s) by determining the general boundaryof the note(s). After a note is recognized, mobile device 15 extractsthe content of at least one of the one or more notes, where the contentis the visual information of note 22.

As further described below, mobile device 15 may implement techniquesfor automated detection and recognition of physical notes 22 andextraction of information, content or other characteristics associatedwith each of the physical notes.

In the example of FIG. 1A, mobile device 15 is illustrated as a mobilephone. However, in other examples, mobile device 15 may be a tabletcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a mediaplayer, an e-book reader, a wearable computing device (e.g., a watch,eyewear, a glove), or any other type of mobile or non-mobile computingdevice suitable for performing the techniques described herein.

FIG. 1B illustrates a block diagram illustrating an example of a mobiledevice that operates in accordance with the techniques described herein.For purposes of example, the mobile device of FIG. 1B will be describedwith respect to mobile device 15 of FIG. 1A

In this example, mobile device 15 includes various hardware componentsthat provide core functionality for operation of the device. Forexample, mobile device 15 includes one or more programmable processors70 configured to operate according to executable instructions (i.e.,program code), typically stored in a computer-readable medium or datastorage 68 such as static, random-access memory (SRAM) device or Flashmemory device. I/O 76 may include one or more devices, such as akeyboard, camera button, power button, volume button, home button, backbutton, menu button, or presentation device 28 as described in FIG. 1A.Transmitter 72 and receiver 74 provide wireless communication with otherdevices, such as cloud server 12, computer system 14, or other mobiledevice 16 as described in FIG. 1A, via a wireless communicationinterface as described in FIG. 1A, such as but not limited tohigh-frequency radio frequency (RF) signals. Mobile device 15 mayinclude additional discrete digital logic or analog circuitry not shownin FIG. 1B.

In general, operating system 64 executes on processor 70 and provides anoperating environment for one or more user applications 77 (commonlyreferred to “apps”), including note management application 78. Userapplications 77 may, for example, comprise executable program codestored in computer-readable storage device (e.g., data storage 68) forexecution by processor 70. As other examples, user applications 77 maycomprise firmware or, in some examples, may be implemented in discretelogic.

In operation, mobile device 15 receives input image data and processesthe input image data in accordance with the techniques described herein.For example, image capture device 18 may capture an input image of anenvironment having a plurality of notes, such as workspace 20 of FIG. 1Ahaving of notes 22. As another example, mobile device 15 may receiveimage data from external sources, such as cloud server 15, computersystem 14 or mobile device 16, via receiver 74. In general, mobiledevice 15 stores the image data in data storage 68 for access andprocessing by note management application 78 and/or other userapplications 77.

As shown in FIG. 1B, user applications 77 may invoke kernel functions ofoperating system 64 to output a graphical user interface (GUI) 79 forpresenting information to a user of mobile device. As further describedbelow, note management application 78 may construct and control GUI 79to provide an improved electronic environment for generating andmanipulating corresponding digital notes representative of physicalnotes 22.

To better understand the present disclosure, FIG. 1C illustrates anembodiment of a note recognition system 100A. The system 100A caninclude a processing unit 110, one or more notes 120, a sensor 130, andnote content repository 140. The processing unit 110 can include one ormore processors, microprocessors, computers, servers, and othercomputing devices. The sensor 130, for example, an image sensor, isconfigured to capture a visual representation of a scene having the oneor more notes 120. The sensor 130 can include at least one of a camera,a video recorder, an infrared camera, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device)array, a scanner, or the like. The visual representation can include atleast one of an image, a video, a sequence of images (i.e., multipleimages taken within a time period and/or with a order), a collection ofimages, or the like. The processing unit 110 is coupled to the sensor130 and configured to receive the visual representation. In some cases,the processing unit 110 is electronically couple to the sensor 130. Theprocessing unit 110 is configured to recognize at least one of the oneor more notes 120 from the visual representation. In some embodiments,the processing unit 110 is configured to recognize note(s) bydetermining the general boundary of the note(s). After a note isrecognized, the processing unit 110 extracts the content of the note. Insome cases, the processing unit 110 is configured to recognize andextract the content of more than one note from a visual representationof a scene having those notes.

In some cases, the processing unit 110 can execute software or firmwarestored in non-transitory computer-readable medium to implement variousprocesses (e.g., recognize notes, extract notes, etc.) for the system100A. The note content repository 140 may run on a single computer, aserver, a storage device, a cloud server, or the like. In some othercases, the note content repository 140 may run on a series of networkedcomputers, servers, or devices. In some implementations, the notecontent repository 140 includes tiers of data storage devices includinglocal, regional, and central. The notes 120 can include physical notesarranged orderly or randomly in a collaboration space and the sensor 130generates a visual representation of the notes 120 in the collaborationspace.

In some embodiments, at least some of the one or more notes 120 includea mark, which can facilitate the identification, recognition, and/orauthentication of a note. In some embodiments, a mark includes at leastone of a barcode, a color block, a color code, a fiduciary mark, atrademark logo, a dot, a hole, and the like. The shape and/or color ofthe note itself may be used as the mark to facilitate theidentification, recognition, and/or authentication of a note. In somecases, the mark can include a plurality of elements arranged in certainpatterns, for example, fiduciary marks at four corners of a rectangularnote. In some other cases, the mark can include a plurality of elements,where at least some elements are non-visible elements that can be usedto provide authentication information, for example, RFID (radiofrequency identification) tags. By way of example, a mark can be madeusing at least one of a retroreflective material, an optically variableink, a colored ink, infrared absorbing ink, fluorescent ink, watermark,glossy material, iridescent material, multi-layer optical film,colloidal crystals, perforated marks, structured color, floating image,window thread, or the like. In some embodiments, the processing unit 110first recognizes the mark on a note from a visual representation,determines the location of the mark on the visual representation, andthen extracts the content of the note based on the recognized mark. Insome cases, the processing unit 110 extracts the content of the notebased upon the recognized mark, a known shape of the note, and a knownrelative position of the mark on the note. In some implementations, theprocessing unit 110 extracts the content of the note from the visualrepresentation in real-time (i.e., process the data in a transitorystorage) without storing the visual representation in a non-transitorystorage.

In some implementations, the note recognition system 100A can include apresentation device (not shown in FIG. 1C) to show to the user whichnotes are recognized and/or which notes' content have been extracted.Further, the note recognition system 100A can present the extractedcontent via the presentation device. In some embodiments, the processingunit 110 can authenticate a note before extracting the content of thenote. If the note is authenticated, the content will be extracted andstored in the note content repository 140. In some cases, the processingunit can extract the authentication information from the mark on thenote. In such cases, the authentication information can be visible ornon-visible on the mark. For example, the mark on a note can include asymbol, for example, a company logo, a matrix code, a barcode, a colorcode, or the like. As another example, the mark on the note can includea tag to store information that can be retrieved by a suitable reader.For example, the mark can include a RFID tag, a near field communication(NFC) tag, or the like.

In some embodiments, the sensor 130 can generate a first visualrepresentation of a scene having several notes 120, for example, takinga photograph or a video clip of the notes with the surroundingenvironment. Each of the notes has a mark. The processing unit 110identifies the marks, determines the location of the marks, and uses thelocation of the marks to control the sensor 130 to generate a secondvisual representation of the scene having the notes 120, for example,taking a zoomed-in image of the notes. The processing unit 110 canfurther recognize and extract content of notes from the second visualrepresentation.

FIG. 1D illustrates an embodiment of a note management system 100B. Inthis embodiment, the note management system 100B includes processingunit 110, one or more notes 120, one or more note sources 150, and anote content repository 140. In some cases, the system 100B includes apresentation device 160. The processing unit 110, the notes 120, and thenote content repository 140 are similar to the components for the noterecognition system 100A as illustrated in FIG. 1A. The note sources 150can include sources to provide content of physical notes, such as avisual representation of a scene having one or more notes, and sourcesto provide content of digital notes, such as a data stream entered froma keyboard. In some embodiments, the note management system 100Bincludes a first source and a second source, and the first source is avisual representation of a scene having one or more notes 120. The firstsource and the second source are produced by different devices. Thesecond source includes at least one of a text stream, an image, a video,a file, and a data entry. The processing unit 110 recognizes at leastone of the notes from the first source and extracts the content of thenote, as discussed in the note recognition system 100A. In some cases,the processing unit 110 labels the note with a category. The processingunit 110 can label a note based on its specific shape, color, content,and/or other information of the note. For example, each group of notecan have a different color (e.g., red, green, yellow, etc.). In somecases, a note 120 can include mark that has one or more elements and theprocessing unit 110 can label the note based on information extractedfrom the mark.

In some embodiments, the note management system 100B can include one ormore presentation devices 160 to show the content of the notes 120 tothe user. The presentation device 160 can include, but not limited to,an electronically addressable display, such as a liquid crystal display(LCD), a tablet computer, a projector, an electronic billboard, acellular phone, a laptop, or the like. In some implementations, theprocessing unit 110 generates the content to display on the presentationdevice 160 for the notes in a variety of formats, for example, a list,grouped in rows and/or column, a flow diagram, or the like.

Various components of the note recognition system and note managementsystem, such as processing unit, image sensor, and note contentrepository, can communicate via a communication interface. Thecommunication interface includes, but not limited to, any wired orwireless short-range and long-range communication interfaces. Theshort-range communication interfaces may be, for example, local areanetwork (LAN), interfaces conforming to a known communications standard,such as Bluetooth standard, IEEE 802 standards (e.g., IEEE 802.11), aZigBee or similar specification, such as those based on the IEEE802.15.4 standard, or other public or proprietary wireless protocol. Thelong-range communication interfaces may be, for example, wide areanetwork (WAN), cellular network interfaces, satellite communicationinterfaces, etc. The communication interface may be either within aprivate computer network, such as intranet, or on a public computernetwork, such as the internet.

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate some examples of notes having marks. Asillustrated in FIG. 2A, the mark on the note 200A has two elements,element 210A and element 220A. The elements 210A and 220A can havedifferent size, shape, relative position and/or material composition.For example, element 210A is a barcode as an identifier for the note andelement 220A is a small rectangle of retro-reflective ink that can beused to determine the boundary of the note. As illustrated in FIG. 2B,the mark on the note 200B can have four elements 210B, 220B, 230B, and240B. The four elements may have similar or different sizes, shapes, andmaterial compositions. The mark can be used to recognize the size,location, orientation, distortion, and other characteristics of thenote, which can be used in content extraction and enhancement. Asillustrated in FIG. 2C, the mark on the note 200C has one element 210C.The note 200C has a non-rectangular shape. In some embodiments, theelement 210C includes an identifier, for example, to identify the typesand the grouping for a note. In some cases, the identifier is a uniqueidentifier.

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a noterecognition and/or management system. Initially, the system captures avisual representation of plurality of notes (step 310A). In someembodiments, the notes are physical notes and it is more efficient tocapture more than one note at a time. Next, the system recognizes one ofthe plurality of notes from the visual representation (step 320A). Forexample, the system can recognize a specific mark on a note andsubsequently determine the general boundary of the note. The systemextracts content of the one of the plurality of notes (step 330A). Insome embodiments, the system can apply image transformation to at leastpart of the visual representation before extracting content. In someother embodiments, the system can apply image enhancement or other imageprocessing technique to improve the quality of the extracted content. Inyet other embodiments, the system can further recognize text and figuresfrom the extracted content.

FIG. 3B illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of extractingcontent of notes. First, a visual representation is received by thesystem (step 310B). The system recognizes a mark on a note from thevisual representation (step 320B). After the position and/or shape ofthe mark is determined, the system may optionally perform geometriccorrection and cropping to the visual representation (step 330B). Basedon the recognized position and/or shape of the mark on the note, thegeneral boundary of the note is recognized on the visual presentation(step 340B). In some embodiments, the system may receive two visualrepresentations of the same set of notes, where each of the notes has amark. The first visual representation is taken using a light sourcesuitable to capture the marks on the notes. For example, the lightsource can be infrared light for marks using infrared sensitive ink. Themarks are recognized in the first visual representation and thepositions of the marks are determined. The second visual representationcan capture the set of notes and the system can determine the generalboundary of each note based on its mark respectively. After the generalboundary of a note is determined, the system extracts the content of thenote (step 350B). For example, where the visual representation is animage, the system may crop the image according to the determined generalboundary of the note. Optionally, the system may enhance the content ofthe note (step 360B), for example, by changing the contrast, brightness,and/or using other image processing techniques. In some cases, thesystem may update the note with a status indicating its contentextracted.

FIG. 3C illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of authenticating anote. First, obtain an authentication signal from a note or a stack ofnotes (step 310C). In one embodiment, the authentication information isa visual component (e.g., a hologram) of a mark on a note and theauthentication signal can be obtained by extracting the visual componentfrom a visual representation capturing the note. In another embodiment,the authentication information is contained in an electronic component(e.g., a RFID tag) of a mark on a note and the authentication signal canbe obtained using a suitable reader (e.g., a RFID reader). Next, thesystem verifies the authentication signal (step 320C). The system canstart the note management application or use the note(s) if the note(s)are authenticated (step 330C).

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate an example of content extraction process of anote with a mark. First, as illustrated in FIG. 4A, a visualrepresentation 400 of a note 410 is captured. The note 410 has a mark420, which can be a barcode, a color code, a matrix code, a color block,or the like. Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, the system determines thegeneral boundary 430 of the mark on the visual representation andrecognizes the mark 420. In some cases, the note 410 may be slanted inthe visual representation 400, as illustrated in FIG. 4C. In some othercases, the visual representation 400 may be taken with geometricdistortion. The system may use the determined general boundary of themark 420 or a portion of the mark 420 to determine the necessary imagetransformation and correction to the visual representation 400 to obtainthe note content. FIG. 4D illustrates that the system extracts thecontent of the note 410 after the previous analysis and/or imageprocessing.

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate an embodiment of content extraction of aplurality of notes with retroreflective marks. A noterecognition/management system receives a visual representation 500A,which captures three notes 510A, and each note 510A has a mark 520 hastwo elements—two retroreflective rectangular tags at upper left andlower bottom corners. Because of the optical property of theretroreflective material, the mark 520 is substantially brighter thanthe rest of the note. FIG. 5B illustrates the marks 520 are muchbrighter than the notes 510A and the background. In some embodiments,the system may use image processing to transform the visualrepresentation of 500A as illustrated in FIG. 5A to 500B as illustratedin FIG. 5B. In some alternative embodiments, the system may generateanother visual representation 500B of the three notes 510A with adifferent light source, for example, a flash light. The system caneasily identify the marks 520 from the visual representation 500B. Afterthe marks 520 are identified, the system can extract the content of thenotes 510C, as illustrated in FIG. 5C. In some cases, the system may useimage processing technique (e.g., adaptive histogram equalization) toenhance the extracted content 510D, as illustrated in FIG. 5D.

FIG. 6 illustrates a module diagram of an embodiment of a noterecognition system 600. In the embodiment as illustrated, the system 600includes a note capturing module 620, a note recognition module 630, anda note extraction module 640. Various components of the note recognitionsystem 600 can be implemented by one or more computing devices,including but not limited to, circuits, a computer, a processor, aprocessing unit, a microprocessor, and/or a tablet computer. In somecases, various components of the note recognition system 600 can beimplemented on a shared computing device. Alternatively, a component ofthe system 600 can be implemented on multiple computing devices. In someimplementations, various modules and components of the system 600 can beimplemented as software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof.In some cases, various components of the note recognition system 600 canbe implemented in software or firmware executed by a computing device.Additionally, various components of the system 600 can communicate viaor be coupled to via a communication interface, for example, a wired orwireless interface. The note capturing module 620 is configured tocapture a visual representation of a plurality of physical notes. Insome embodiments, the note capturing module 620 includes an imagesensor. The note recognition module 630 is coupled to the note capturingmodule 620, the note recognition module is configured to receive thecaptured visual representation and determine a general boundary of oneof the plurality of physical notes from the captured visualrepresentation. In some cases, the note recognition module 630 isconfigured to create a digital note representative the recognizedphysical note. The note extraction module 640 is configured to extractcontent of the one of the plurality of notes from the captured visualrepresentation based on the determined general boundary of the one ofthe plurality of notes. In some cases, the note extraction module 640 isconfigured to associate the extracted content with the correspondingdigital note.

In some embodiments, the note recognition system 600 includes a noteauthentication module 650 configured to authenticate the plurality ofnotes. In some cases, at least some of the plurality of notes have amark. The mark can be used to facilitate the recognition, extraction andauthentication of the note. For example, the note authentication module650 can obtain an authentication signal from a mark of a note and verifythe authentication based on the authentication signal. In some cases,the note authentication module 650 is coupled to the note recognitionmodule 630 and provides the authentication information to the noterecognition module 630. In some embodiments, the note recognition module630 and the note extraction module 640 can perform the steps illustratedin FIG. 3B and in the relevant discussions.

In some embodiments, a note recognition/management system may usemultiple recognition algorithms to recognize notes and extract notes'content, such as color recognition, shape recognition, and patternrecognition. For example, the system may use color spaces such as theRGB, HSV, CIELAB, etc. to identify regions of interest corresponding tothe notes for color recognition. In some cases, the notes are furtherdistinguished in their shape and due to the presence of unique patternsdetected by shape recognition (e.g., Hough transform, shape context,etc.) and pattern recognition algorithms (e.g., Support Vector Machine,cross-correlation, template matching, etc.) respectively. Thesealgorithms help filter out unwanted objects in the visual representationor other sources of notes' content and leave only those regions ofinterest corresponding to the notes.

In an embodiment, a note may include a mark made using fluorescentmaterials, such as printable inks or coatable dyes. For example, afiducial mark such as a logo can be printed in fluorescent ink on thewriting surface of a note. An appropriate light source would excite thefluorescent material. For example, a white LED (light emitting diode) ofa mobile handheld device may be able to excite the fluorophore using thesignificant blue wavelength component of the LED output spectrum. In oneembodiment, a fluorescent dye can be coated on the writing surface ofthe notes or included in the materials making the notes. In thisembodiment, the fluorescent dye can provide not only verification of abranded product but can also improve the contrast between the writteninformation on the note and the background of the note itself. Such markcan facilitate the recognition and segmentation of notes on a visualrepresentation produced by an image sensor. In the cases of notes madefrom paper with fluorescent dye, the captured visual representation mayhave better readability. Depending on the excitation wavelength rangeand the fluorescing wavelength range for the fluorescent materials,additional optical equipment, such as a filter, may be used togetherwith an image sensor (e.g., a camera) to improve detection.

FIG. 7A illustrates a flow diagram of an embodiment of a note managementsystem. First, the system receives a plurality of notes from multiplesources (step 710A). For example, the note management system may receivea set of images of a number of notes from a camera or a smart phone andreceive another set of images of a number of notes taken from a remotelocation. As another example, the note management system may receive avisual representation (e.g., a video) of a number of notes taken by avideo recording device and a text stream of notes that is entered via alaptop. In some embodiments, the multiple sources are sources of notes'content taken from different devices, for example, cameras, scanners,computers, etc. Then, the system recognizes one of the plurality ofnotes (step 720A). In some cases, the system creates digital notesrepresentative of the one of the plurality of physical notes, The systemextracts content of the plurality of notes (step 730A). In some cases,the system associates the extracted content with the correspondingdigital notes representative of physical notes. In some embodiments,some notes include marks (e.g., color block, color code, barcode, etc.)on the note and one source of notes is a visual representation of someof the notes. In some cases, the recognizing step includes recognizingmarks on the notes from the visual representation and then determinesthe general boundaries of the notes based on the recognized marks. Insome of these cases, the extracting step includes extracting the contentbased upon the recognized marks, known shapes of the notes, and knownrelative positions of the marks on the notes. After the content of theplurality of notes is extracted, in some cases, the system may associateeach of the plurality of digital notes with a unique identifier (step740A). The system may label each of the plurality of digital notes witha category (step 750A). The labeling step is discussed in more detailsbelow. Additionally, the system may first authenticate the notes beforerecognizing the notes. Optionally, the system may present the content ofthe plurality of notes on a display (step 760A). In some embodiments,the system may present the extracted content of the plurality of noteswith an output field indicating the categories of the notes. In someimplementations, the system may use the category information of thedigital notes in presenting the digital notes (e.g., show the notes inone category in a group).

FIG. 7B illustrates examples of how a system may label a digital note.In one embodiment, a note management system can label a note based on adetected signal (710B). For example, a note can have a mark including abarcode; the system can read the barcode and label the note based on thebarcode. In some cases, the system can label a note based on arecognized mark (720B). For example, the mark can include an icon, logo,or other graphical symbol indicating a particular group. The system mayfurther label a note based on its content (730B). In some cases, thesystem may label a noted based on historical data and/or predictivemodeling (740B). In some other cases, the system may label a note byuser input (750B). A note management system can use one or moreapproaches to label a note. The system may also use other approaches tolabel a note that are not listed in FIG. 7B, for example, label a notebased on the shape of the note. Further, in some cases, a note may beassociated with more than one category.

FIG. 8 illustrates a module diagram of a note management system 800. Inthe embodiment as illustrated, the system 800 includes one or more notesources 820, a note recognition module 830, a note extraction module840, and a note labeling module 860. Various components of the notemanagement system 800 can be implemented by one or more computingdevices, including but not limited to, circuits, a computer, aprocessor, a processing unit, a microprocessor, and/or a tabletcomputer. In some cases, various components of the note managementsystem 800 can be implemented on a shared computing device.Alternatively, a component of the system 800 can be implemented onmultiple computing devices. In some implementations, various modules andcomponents of the system 800 can be implemented as software, hardware,firmware, or a combination thereof. In some cases, various components ofthe note management system 800 can be implemented in software orfirmware executed by a computing device. Additionally, variouscomponents of the system 800 can communicate via or be coupled to via acommunication interface, for example, a wired or wireless interface. Thenote source(s) 820 is configured to provide a plurality of notes. Insome embodiments, one of the note sources 820 is a visual representationof a scene having one or more physical notes. In some cases, the notesources 820 include a plurality of different sources for providingnotes, for example, images, text stream, video stream, or the like. Thenote recognition module 830 is coupled to the note sources 820, the noterecognition module is configured to receive the visual representation,determine a general boundary of a physical note from the visualrepresentation and create a digital note representative of the physicalnote. The note extraction module 840 is configured to extract content ofthe one of the plurality of physical notes from the visualrepresentation based on the determined general boundary of the one ofthe plurality of physical notes and associate the extracted content withthe corresponding digital notes. The note labeling module 860 isconfigured to label the one of the plurality of digital notes with acategory.

In some embodiments, the note management system 800 includes a noteauthentication module 850 is configured to authenticate the plurality ofnotes. In some cases, at least some of the plurality of notes have amark. The mark can be used to facilitate the recognition, extraction andauthentication of the note. For example, the note authentication module850 can obtain an authentication signal from a mark of a note and verifythe authentication based on the authentication signal. In some cases,the note authentication module 850 is coupled to the note recognitionmodule 830 and provides the authentication information to the noterecognition module 830. In some embodiments, the note recognition module830 and the note extraction module 840 can perform the steps illustratedin FIG. 3B and in the relevant discussions. In some embodiments, thenote labeling module 860 can use one or more labeling approachesillustrated in FIG. 7B and in the relevant discussions. In some cases, anote may be associated with more than one category.

In some embodiments, the note management system 800 may include a notepresentation module 870, which is configured to gather content of theplurality of digital notes and present at least part of the plurality ofnotes according to the category of the notes. For example, the notepresentation module 870 can organize the plurality of digital notes intogroups that have the same category. As another example, the notepresentation module 870 can add connection lines and/or arrows ofdifferent groups of digital notes.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1

A method of collecting content of notes, comprising:

capturing, by a sensor, a visual representation of a scene having aplurality of physical notes, each of the physical notes having apredefined boundary and recognizable content thereon;

recognizing, by a processing unit, one of the plurality of physicalnotes from the visual representation; and

extracting, by the processing unit, the recognizable content of the oneof the plurality of physical notes.

Embodiment 2

The method of Embodiment 1, wherein at least one of the plurality ofphysical notes comprises a mark.

Embodiment 3

The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the mark comprises at least one of abarcode, a color block, a color code, a pattern, a fiduciary mark, atrademark logo, a dot, and a hole.

Embodiment 4

The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the recognizing step comprisesrecognizing the mark of the one of the plurality of physical notes fromthe visual representation.

Embodiment 5

The method of Embodiment 4, wherein the recognizing step comprisesrecognizing the one of the plurality of physical notes based upon therecognized mark.

Embodiment 6

The method of Embodiment 4, wherein the recognizing step comprisesdetermining the general boundary of the one of the plurality of physicalnotes based upon the recognized mark, a known shape of the one of theplurality of physical notes, and a known relative position of the markon the one of the plurality of physical notes.

Embodiment 7

The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the mark comprises an identifier.

Embodiment 8

The method of Embodiment 7, wherein the identifier is a uniqueidentifier.

Embodiment 9

The method of any one of Embodiment 1 through Embodiment 8, furthercomprising:

-   -   creating a digital note representative of the one of the        plurality of physical notes; and    -   updating the digital note with a status indicating the        recognizable content of the corresponding physical note being        extracted.

Embodiment 10

The method of any one of Embodiment 1 through Embodiment 9, wherein theprocessing unit comprises at least one of a processor, a microprocessor,a microcontroller, a computer, and a computing device.

Embodiment 11

The method of any one of Embodiment 1 through Embodiment 10, furthercomprising:

-   -   presenting, by a presentation device, the extracted content to a        user.

Embodiment 12

The method of any one of Embodiment 1 through Embodiment 11, wherein themark is made using at least one of a retroreflective material, anoptically variable ink, a colored ink, infrared absorbing ink,fluorescent ink, watermark, glossy material, iridescent material,perforated marks, structured color, floating image, and window thread.

Embodiment 13

The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the mark comprises a symbol.

Embodiment 14

The method of Embodiment 13, further comprising:

-   -   identifying the symbol from the visual representation.

Embodiment 15

The method of Embodiment 13, further comprising:

-   -   identifying the symbol by the processing unit,    -   authenticating, by the processing unit, the one of the plurality        of physical notes based on the symbol,    -   wherein the extracting step comprises extract the content of the        one of the plurality of physical notes if the one of the        plurality of physical notes is authenticated.

Embodiment 16

The method of any one of Embodiment 1 through Embodiment 15, wherein thevisual representation is an image or a video.

Embodiment 17

A note recognition system, comprising:

-   -   a sensor configured to capture an visual representation of a        scene having a plurality of physical notes, each of the physical        notes having a predefined boundary and recognizable content        thereon,    -   a note recognition module coupled to the sensor, the note        recognition module configured to receive the captured visual        representation and determine a general boundary of one of the        plurality of physical notes from the captured visual        representation, and    -   a note extraction module configured to extract the recognizable        content of the one of the plurality of physical notes from the        captured visual representation based on the determined general        boundary of the one of the plurality of physical notes.

Embodiment 18

The note recognition system of Embodiment 17, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of physical notes comprises a mark.

Embodiment 19

The note recognition system of Embodiment 18, wherein the mark comprisesat least one of a barcode, a color block, a color code, a pattern, afiduciary mark, a trademark logo, a dot, and a hole.

Embodiment 20

The note recognition system of Embodiment 18, wherein the noterecognition module is further configured to recognize the mark of theone of the plurality of physical notes from the visual representation.

Embodiment 21

The note recognition system of Embodiment 20, wherein the noterecognition module is further configured to recognize the one of theplurality of physical notes based upon the recognized mark.

Embodiment 22

The note recognition system of Embodiment 20, wherein the noterecognition module is further configured to determine the generalboundary of the one of the plurality of physical notes based upon therecognized mark, a known shape of the one of the plurality of physicalnotes, and a known relative position of the mark on the one of theplurality of physical notes.

Embodiment 23

The note recognition system of Embodiment 18, wherein the mark comprisesan identifier.

Embodiment 24

The note recognition system of Embodiment 23, wherein the identifier isa unique identifier.

Embodiment 25

The note recognition system of any one of Embodiment 17 throughEmbodiment 24, wherein the note extraction module is further configuredto create a digital note representative of the one of the plurality ofphysical notes and update the digital note with a status indicating therecognizable content of the corresponding physical notes beingextracted.

Embodiment 26

The note recognition system of any one of Embodiment 17 throughEmbodiment 25, wherein the processing unit comprises at least one of aprocessor, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a computer, and acomputing device.

Embodiment 27

The note recognition system of any one of Embodiment 17 throughEmbodiment 26, further comprising:

-   -   a note presentation module configured to present the extracted        content to a user.

Embodiment 28

The note recognition system of any one of Embodiment 17 throughEmbodiment 27, wherein the mark is made using at least one of aretroreflective material, an optically variable ink, a colored ink,infrared absorbing ink, fluorescent ink, watermark, glossy material,iridescent material, perforated marks, structured color, floating image,and window thread.

Embodiment 29

The note recognition system of Embodiment 18, wherein the mark comprisesa symbol.

Embodiment 30

The note recognition system of Embodiment 29, wherein the noterecognition module is further configured to identify the symbol from thevisual representation.

Embodiment 31

The note recognition system of Embodiment 29, further comprising:

-   -   a note authentication module configured to authenticate notes,    -   wherein the note recognition module is further configured to        identifying the symbol,    -   wherein the note authentication module is further configured to        authenticate the one of the plurality of physical notes based on        the symbol, and    -   wherein the note extraction module is further configured to        extract the recognizable content of the one of the plurality of        physical notes if the one of the plurality of physical notes is        authenticated.

Embodiment 32

The note recognition system of any one of Embodiment 17 throughEmbodiment 31, wherein the visual representation is an image or a video.

The present invention should not be considered limited to the particularexamples and embodiments described above, as such embodiments aredescribed in detail to facilitate explanation of various aspects of theinvention. Rather the present invention should be understood to coverall aspects of the invention, including various modifications,equivalent processes, and alternative devices falling within the spiritand scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of collecting content of notes,comprising: capturing, by a sensor of a computing device, a visualrepresentation of a scene having a first physical note and a secondphysical note, each of the physical notes comprising a separate physicalobject having a predefined boundary and recognizable content thereon,the first physical note comprising a mark; processing, by a processingunit of the computing device, image data associated with the visualrepresentation of the scene to identify the mark of the first physicalnote from the visual representation; identifying based at least in parton the identified mark, by the processing unit, a predefined boundary ofthe first physical note from the visual representation; extracting basedat least in part on the predefined boundary of the first physical note,by the processing unit, first recognizable content from within thepredefined boundary of the first physical note; associating the firstrecognizable content with a first digital note representative of thefirst physical note; identifying based at least in part on theidentified mark, by the processing unit, a predefined boundary of thesecond physical note from the visual representation; extracting, by theprocessing unit, second recognizable content from within the predefinedboundary of the second physical note; and associating the secondrecognizable content with a second digital note representative of therespective physical note.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theidentifying step comprises identifying the predefined boundary of thefirst physical note based upon the identified mark and a known shape ofthe first physical note.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theidentifying step comprises identifying the predefined boundary of thefirst physical note based upon the identified mark and a known relativeposition of the mark on the first physical note.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the mark comprises at least one of a barcode, a color block,a color code, a color, a shape, a pattern, a fiduciary mark, a trademarklogo, a dot, and a hole.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the markcomprises a symbol.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:identifying the symbol by the processing unit; and authenticating, bythe processing unit, based on the symbol.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the computing device comprises a mobile computing device.
 8. Anote recognition device, comprising: a computing device, a sensorconfigured to capture a visual representation of a scene having a firstphysical note and a second physical note, each of the physical noteshaving a predefined boundary and recognizable content thereon, the firstphysical note comprising a mark, a note recognition module implementedon the computing device and coupled to the sensor, the note recognitionmodule configured to process the captured visual representation,identify the mark of the first physical note from the captured visualrepresentation, and identify, based at least in part on the identifiedmark, a predefined boundary of the first physical note from the visualrepresentation, and a note extraction module implemented on thecomputing device and configured to extract first recognizable content ofthe first physical note from the captured visual representation fromwithin the predefined boundary of the first physical note.
 9. The noterecognition device of claim 8, wherein the note recognition module isfurther configured to identify the predefined boundary of the firstphysical note based upon the identified mark and a known shape of thefirst physical note.
 10. The note recognition device of claim 8, whereinthe note recognition module is further configured to identify thepredefined boundary of the first physical note based upon the identifiedmark and a known relative position of the mark on the first physicalnote.
 11. The note recognition device of claim 8, wherein the markcomprises at least one of a barcode, a color block, a color code, acolor, a shape, a pattern, a fiduciary mark, a trademark logo, a dot,and a hole.
 12. The note recognition device of claim 7, wherein the markcomprises a symbol.
 13. The note recognition device of claim 12, whereinthe note recognition module is further configured to identify thesymbol.
 14. The note recognition device of claim 13, further comprising:a note authentication module implemented on the computing device andconfigured to authenticate the first physical note based on the symbol.15. The note recognition device of claim 14, wherein the note extractionmodule is further configured to extract the first recognizable contentif the first physical note is authenticated.
 16. The note recognitiondevice of claim 8, wherein the note recognition device comprises amobile computing device.